Zimmermann Telegram
January 16 – March 1, 1917
Secret German offer to Mexico of an alliance against the United States, intercepted by British intelligence; its publication helped bring the US into the First World War.
Battles 1
July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918
World War I
Western Front — Verdun
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, Erich von Falkenhayn, John French
Key commanders
Central Powers 13
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger
Chief of the German General Staff, Germany (1914)
Erich von Falkenhayn
Chief of the German General Staff, Germany (1914–1916)
Alexander von Kluck
Generaloberst, Commander of the German First Army
Enver Pasha
Minister of War, Ottoman Empire; de facto Commander-in-Chief
Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf
Field Marshal, Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Commander, Ottoman forces at Gallipoli
Wilhelm II
Emperor, Germany
Paul von Hindenburg
Commander, German Eighth Army
Erich Ludendorff
Franz Joseph I of Austria
belligerent leader
Charles I of Austria
Mehmed V
Sultan, Ottoman Empire
Mehmed VI
Sultan, Ottoman Empire
Allies 12
John French
Field Marshal, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (1914–1915)
Robert Nivelle
General, Commander of the French Second Army; French Commander-in-Chief (1916–1917)
Joseph Joffre
Marshal of France, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army (1914–1916)
Philippe Pétain
General, Commander at Verdun; French Commander-in-Chief (1917)
Emperor Taishō
belligerent leader
Nicholas II of Russia
Emperor, Russia
George V
King, United Kingdom
Woodrow Wilson
President, United States
Ferdinand Foch
Georges Clemenceau
Raymond Poincaré
belligerent leader
David Lloyd George